Ryne was the coke-bottle-glasses
wearing reliever who is best remembered for his time with the
Yankees, from 1958 - 1961. Made fun of because of his glasses,
and supposed lousy vision, Duren used this to his advantage during
warmups when he would uncork a 95 mph fastball over the catchers
head and into the screen, making a frightful loud noise and giving
the batters the impression that he had no idea where the ball
was going. He was the best reliever in baseball for a couple
of years (saved 20 games in '58 -- a lot for back then), but
then it all fell apart, and he was then traded around the majors.
His lifetime record is 27 wins, 44 losses, and 57 saves. He
did strike out 630 men in 589 innings though, and was known for
being one of the fastest pitchers in the game. For much of his
career, Ryne was a serious alcoholic, but he eventually went
to therapy and recovered and is now a substance abuse counsellor.
Ryne was the namesake of future hall of famer Ryne Sandberg,
and shares my birthday of February 22. An interesting character
and a great guy, with no chance of ever making the real hall.